


The Capitoline Wolf

by ladyoneill



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Friendship, Gen, Research
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-17
Updated: 2014-03-17
Packaged: 2018-01-15 11:53:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1303927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyoneill/pseuds/ladyoneill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lydia and Stiles bicker, banter and research the origins of werewolves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Capitoline Wolf

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Akabit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akabit/gifts).



> I love the friendship between these two, with Lydia's book smarts and Stiles' leaps of intuition. Set in the future.

"The age of the Capitoline Wolf has been scientifically determined at no older than eight hundred years."

"...Huh?"

Not turning from the wall of pictures, Lydia nods at the one of the Capitoline Wolf with the infants, Romulus and Remus. "Why do you have these anyway?" There are several other images, including a clipping of the Rubens she saw with the supposedly Etruscan statue on her trip to Rome two years before.

"Um, werewolves? It's as good an explanation for their existence as any," Stile replies from his desk chair.

"I highly doubt that two infants suckled by a she wolf created werewolves."

"It's an extremely popular image over the centuries before and after Rome's founding," he defends.

"Yes, a very pretty myth." Turning, she catches Stiles rolling his eyes at her, then flushing and spinning back to his computer.

Snorting, Lydia plops gracefully down on his unmade bed. "Why do we care how they came to be? They exist."

"Aren't you curious?"

"...I guess. Maybe. But, the myth of Zeus turning Lycaon into a wolf makes more sense."

"Too obvious. Pliny's relating of a tale of a man hanging his clothes on an ash tree--ash tree, right?--and turning into a wolf while swimming is more plausible."

"You might as well go with the story of the man peeing in a circle around his clothes and turning into a wolf. There are dozens of tales from over a thousand years and across numerous countries, Stiles."

"The truth is out there."

Lydia snorts again and idly picks up an old book from his night stand. "The Volksunga Saga in the original Norse?" she asks in disbelief. 

"Always go to the original source," is his stubborn reply.

Giving him a sharp laugh of disbelief, she still finds herself drawn to the first page, then picks up his handwritten translation and frowns. "You have the third sentence wrong."

Ignoring his smug grin, she grabs a pen and frowns at the book. "Where did you get this anyway?"

"Peter has sources."

"Why don't you just ask him where werewolves come from?"

"You think any of them know?" Stiles laughs and she has to smile in agreement. "Derek thinks this is a waste of time."

"It is." Not that she's going to stop her work now.

"Peter interested, though. Not enough for him to do the work himself, but, he's paying me."

"Heh."

"Yeah. Enough for me to get all the antiquarian books I'll ever want and, hey, you want some new shoes?"

"I'm not that shallow," Lydia protests automatically, then grins slyly. "I'll need matching handbags."

Stiles grins back at her and they dive into their work.

End

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Teen Wolf or its characters. No money being made here. Photograph of _Romulus and Remus_ by Peter Paul Rubens is in the public domain.


End file.
